W E D N E S D A Y
February 27 2019 Vol. 39, No. 29 ONE DOLLAR @oakpark @wednesdayjournal
JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest
OPRF falls in state final to Montini Sports, page 48
D200 board, teachers approve new contract Agreement eliminates steps and lanes, extends school day By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter
The Oak Park and River Forest High School District 200 Board of Education and the OPRF Faculty Senate have agreed on a new four-year contract that is drastically different than any approved in the past. The District 200 school board voted 6-0 (board member Craig Iseli was absent) to approve the contract during a special meeting on Feb. 19 — roughly a year after the two entities began negotiations. The new contract is retroactive to July 1, 2018, when the old deal expired, and runs through June 20, 2022. The most significant feature of the new contract is a radically altered salary structure, which eliminates the conventional step-raise and lanes system many school districts use to calculate teachers’ salary increases. The measure comes four years after District 97 eliminated its steps and lanes structure. Under the old, conventional salary structures, OPRF teachers were given a step salary increase for each additional year of employment, in addition to a yearly percent increase in salary that was negotiated, officials said. The old contract’s eight lanes, officials added, “provided salary increases for every 15 adSee CONTRACT on page 16
ALEXA ROGALS/Staff Photographer
SPEAK UP, STAND OUT: High school and middle school students in Oak Park participate in a Feb. 26 walkout that has prompted a range of questions, such as ‘When is protest appropriate?’
OPRF protest march prompts questions Feb. 26 demonstration forces organizers, officials to ask: When is action appropriate? By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter
On a frigid Tuesday morning, a bundledup crowd of at least 400 students — some wearing black hoodies with the slogan, “We Are Trayvon,” and adorned with the face of the 17-year-old who was fatally shot
in Sanford, Florida, by George Zimmerman in 2012 — walked out of Oak Park and River Forest High School in what might be the one most complicated acts of studentled protest in the village’s recent history. The students exited OPRF’s main entrance, walked south on Scoville Avenue toward Lake Street and headed south on
WOW!
Education, Enrichment & Camp Fair
Ridgeland Avenue toward Julian Middle School. There, approximately 300 seventhand eighth-graders (according to District 97’s count) joined the demonstrators as they headed to the Oak Park police station. Outwardly, the protest appeared typiSee PROTEST on page 16
Tuesday, March 12, 4 - 7 pm Julian Middle School Cafeteria Parents, find the perfect fit for your child at our Enrichment & Camp Fair! A FREE event!